I know that fresh and dried pasta is readily available in the shops but if I am making ravioli or tortellini , the only way to ensure you have beautifully thin pasta is to make it your own. When you first start making your own pasta it can be a little tricky and might need a few attempts before you begin to get the hang of it, but persevere , as once you’ve cracked it, is so satisfying to make.
This beetroot fettuccine is the most wonderful deep red and don’t worry, the pasta won’t actually taste of beetroot, it is only used for the colour. I roast the beetroot first to ‘set’ the colour (if you boil the beetroot some of the colour disperses into the water so you end up with a pink, rather than red pasta).
First roast the beetroot at 190C for 50-60 minutes till cooked. (this can be done the day before). Leave to cool, peel and coarsely chop and place in a blender with the egg yolks and blitz till smooth.
Ingredients
Instructions
Place the flour in a bowl and add the egg, salt and beetroot knead together till it forms a smooth dough. This is the tricky bit as you may need to add a little more flour/egg depending on the consistency.This can be done in a magimix though I prefer to do it by hand-watch out for pink fingers though! Once it is nice and smooth, wrap the dough in film and chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to rest.
After resting remove from the fridge and divide into 8 pieces. Using a rolling pin roll out each piece into an oblong about 3mm thick. Now using you pasta machine on the widest setting, feed a piece through the machine 3 times then reduce the setting by one and feed it through again. Continue reducing the setting until you are on the 2nd from last setting. (the last setting is too thin for fettuccine). Place the rolled pasta on the work surface to dry and repeat the process with the remaining 7 pieces. When all the pasta has been rolled out, attach the pasta cutter to the machine and using the pasta rolled first, feed it through the cutter then carefully hang the pasta on a rack to dry.(Coat hangers, back of a chair anything will do!).
The pasta can be cooked immediately in boiling salted water or if you want to store the pasta, either keep it 'fresh' in the fridge for up to a week, freeze, or leave it to dry thoroughly before storing it in an airtight container.
